


Paying The Fiddler Off

by corialis



Category: Honoo no Mirage | Mirage of Blaze
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-18
Updated: 2010-07-18
Packaged: 2017-10-10 15:33:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/101288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corialis/pseuds/corialis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takaya hates waiting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Paying The Fiddler Off

**Author's Note:**

> Birthday fic for Shiv. Exists partially in an ambiguous place in canon-time and partially in the alternate universe in my head where Naoe and Takaya celebrate the holidays together and wear ugly sweaters and drink hot chocolate and move past their stupid. Think of it as a memorial book story.

_So put a candle in the window  
And a kiss upon his lips  
'Til the dish outside the window fills with rain  
Just like a stranger with the weeds in your heart  
And pay the fiddler off 'til I come back again  
\- 'Time,' Tom Waits_

One year for Christmas, Naoe bought Takaya a kitten.

At first Takaya had blushed and scoffed, remnants of what things had been like when he and Naoe first met and he was an indignant sixteen-year-old boy with a crush he didn't know what to do with. But then Naoe stood in the doorway and held out the kitten and it mewed, and the Takaya that had grown up into Takaya-Kagetora and something entirely new smiled and secretly melted a little. "Fine," he said as he stepped out of the doorway, affectionate half-smile belying his attempts at looking unimpressed. "I guess it can stay."

"He will keep you company," Naoe said seriously , but with an equally-telling pleased smile playing at the corners of his mouth. "He likes to have his head petted. You have that in common."

Now it is almost a year later and Takaya is sulking like that sixteen-year-old again. Naoe was supposed to be back from his mysterious recon mission hours ago. He has been gone for days and no matter how much time Takaya spends with him, he always misses him when he is gone, a low-grade uncomfortable skittering of loneliness across the surface of his skin.

He feels like a strange, restless fraction of a person when they're apart, like there is something missing just out of his reach. It makes him fidgety and anxious and nothing really feels like it's real. He shifts around uncomfortably as he falls asleep and the bed is too big. It agitates the cat.

Naoe had named the kitten Seimei. Takaya still isn't sure whether this was an attempt at a strange joke.

Seimei is prowling around Takaya's ankles anxiously while he sits on the couch and tries to read. He has made it through several pages in an hour but doesn't really remember what they said and eventually gives up. Walks into the kitchen, bare feet padding over the tile as he reaches up to push his bangs off his face and scowls. Listlessly opens the refrigerator, stares at it for a few minutes, and closes it. Everything in this stupid house reminds him of Naoe now. Even the butter.

If Naoe isn't back before Christmas, he will kill him. Seimei makes quiet needy noises at his feet; he doesn't like it when Naoe is gone for too long either. He and Takaya have that in common, too.

"I know," Takaya mutters as he bends to pick him up. "That bastard. Leaving us here." He can't manage to muster up the proper spitefulness. He carries Seimei back to the couch and lies down, closing his eyes as he absentmindedly scratches Seimei behind his ears.

He tries to relax, soothed by the repetitive motion and Seimei's purring in his lap.

He figures he must have dozed off because there is someone's hand scratching his own head without his even hearing the door open. In another life, this would have led to someone getting killed, but Takaya is working on moving past that.

"I suspected you two would get along."

Naoe sits down on the couch before Takaya can think of an appropriately indignant response and bends to kiss him. Slow warmth creeps over and covers him and his thoughts blur as he finally feels himself relax. He feels like he's somehow out of himself while achingly aware of every plane and press of Naoe against his body and his arms wrapped around him.

"Though," Naoe adds after drawing back, "I suppose there is no one to pet you if I am not here."

Takaya smiles as Naoe's smooth voice slides down and wraps around him. "Hey," he says, speech still slowed and softened by sleep. "Took you long enough."


End file.
